Wednesday, June 29, 2005

The Cook Next Door

And many thanks to Nicki at Delicious Days mixed the ingredients to this wonderful food meme!

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?My father helped me make my mom toast, eggs and bacon when my baby brother was born. (shall we say...a tad on the toasty side)

Who had the most influence on your cooking?My mom. She had no idea how to cook when she got married at 18 but constantly was reading cookbooks and trying things out.

Do you have an old photo as "evidence" of an early exposure to the culinary world and would you like to share it?If I did, I would burn it! (like my early cooking attempts)

Mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?Anything that involves my killing an animal. I can't stand to battle crabs in pots. (oh...but they are so tasty...)

What would be your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest let down?I love my little garlic skin remover. A little tube of yellow silicon. Nothing much. But I use it all the time and I love it. The Cuisinart still has to be my biggest let down. Sure it's great for many things, salsa, etc., but it really is clunky and a pain in the a** to clean.

Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else! hmmm...I don't know really....peanut butter and banana sandwiches, I suppose. (thanks to my Dad.)

What are the three eatables or dishes you simply don’t want to live without?Ice Cream, Mac & Cheese, beef steak tomatoes (weird, eh?)

The quickies section:

Your favorite ice-cream - pistachioA dish you will probably never eat - rattle snake anythingYour own signature dish… cookies!A common ingredient you just can't bring yourself to stomach - not really an ingredient, but there is no way in h*** I can ever get near LIVER. (I gag)Any signs that this passion is going slightly over the edge and may need intervention? my cookbook collection is growing to NYLibrary proportionsAny embarrassing eating habits? Not that anyone has warned me of anyway....Who would you want to come into your kitchen to cook dinner for you? TYLER FLORENCE! (of course!)(The computer is down again today....thanks to Kinkos I'm finishing off this "meme" so posting may be sporadic again.)

I also know what you mean regarding buying cookbooks. The only thing that sort of broke my craze was that I already bought most of the books sold at Costco and I refuse to buy anything by Rachel Ray which accounts for half of their inventory it seems.